Kale Rabe Pasta with Fresh Mint and Romano

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There are times when I like to spend lazy Sunday afternoons making a slow-cooked marinara sauce perfectly paired with fresh pasta and a glass of red wine. We’ve all had these days, when the weather’s not quite perfect and you want to just stay in, keep warm and make the whole place smell like mom’s house.

Sometimes these Sundays are too few and far between.

More often, there are busy Mondays (or Tuesdays or Wednesdays…) where I’m just too tired from work to really give a damn what we’re eating. If I can put it together in under an hour, I’m a happy lady. And there are quite a few recipes I make time and time again, the old standbys, because they are really truly lifesavers in that category.

This pasta dish is just that. Filling, satisfying, quick and easy! A lifesaver.

Kale Rabe

We found kale rabe at the farmers market this weekend and I was so intrigued! Sure, it’s probably not the newest veggie discovery ever, but I was happy to give it a go because it combines two of my favorite greens into one: kale and, you guessed it, broccoli rabe!

It looks a bit like kale that’s started to flower:

Kale rabe cooks up quickly, and it’s got the same bitterness that broccoli rabe does, but perhaps a bit more mild. Make sure to remove the tough stems though, they’re quite chewy.

Hope you like this dish as much as we did – and it’s great leftover as well!

ROAST: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss kale rabe with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread evenly onto a baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until tender and charred on the edges.

BOIL: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions.

SAUCE: Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, anchovy paste, golden raisins, pumpkin seeds and stir to combine. Add the cooked pasta, fresh mint, lemon zest, Romano cheese and kale rabe to the skillet and toss everything together until well combined. Add in some pasta water to thin sauce if necessary.

SERVE: Portion pasta into 4 bowls, top with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice and more grated Romano.

Notes

If you can't find kale rabe, feel free to use broccoli or broccoli rabe instead.